Gear In His Head

Lin Ruoxi was getting slightly angry when Yang Chen kept staring at her bracelet instead of answering her question.

“You...say something!”

She was now agitated at the silence.

“Let go of my hand if you’re not going to say anything!”

“Yang Chen!”

“I won’t sleep with you tonight if you’re not going to say anything!!”

“Ah!? No!”

Yang Chen snapped out of it immediately. With a sheepish smile on his face, he said to her, “Why did you say that? We can’t sleep separately.”

Lin Ruoxi rolled her eyes. Was there some kind of gear in his head? Why would he only react to these things?!

“What exactly are you looking at?” Lin Ruoxi sounded annoyed.

Yang Chen sighed. “Ruoxi, your bracelet is a form protective gear but why didn’t it react when your life was in danger?”

The question piqued her curiosity too.

He was right. Her bracelet was supposed to protect her. Back when Ning Guodong was trying to sexually assault her, she managed to get away with the bracelet.

“Could it be...because I wasn’t in grave danger?” Lin Ruoxi guessed.

Yang Chen shook his head. “Yan Feiyu was much more dangerous than Ning Guodong so that shouldn’t be the case.”

Somehow, both of them started to stare at the bracelet blankly.

At this time, Yan Sanniang strolled towards them from the corridor.

She had regained her calmness and she asked with a sweet smile, “Young Master Chen, Young Madam, what are you guys doing?”

Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi turned around to look at her. They still couldn’t get used to the change in her physical appearance.

Inside his heart, Yang Chen was muttering to himself that Yang Gongming must have stuck close to Yan Sanniang because she was pretty! He must have got the trait from Yang Gongming!

It wasn’t his fault!

On the other hand, Lin Ruoxi was thinking of something else. <i> I must work hard in my cultivation, she still looks so young despite being in her sixties. Cultivation is indeed more reliable than any skincare product! </i>

“Granny Yan, you came at the right time. Come and analyze this Fengxiang Bracelet for us before you leave.” Yang Chen told her.

Yang Chen didn’t hide the truth from her. He told her that the bracelet was a mystical artifact and how it failed to react moments ago.

Yan Sanniang was stupefied. “Madam never mentioned it to me, I didn’t know there was something else to it…”

“Granny Yan, I’ve been curious about something. Why couldn’t you tell it was an artifact?” Yang Chen asked.

“Young Master Chen, not all of them are easily recognizable,” Yan Sanniang said. “If the artifact’s rank is too high and it can conceal its spirituality.”

Yang Chen seemed to have understood it. He must have seen through it because he was extremely sensitive to the spiritualities in the world. At the same time, he was convinced that the bracelet wasn’t a low ranked artifact.

“If you said the bracelet failed to protect its owner, it must be related to Young Madam,” Yan Sanniang explained. “Artifacts are sensitive to spiritual energies. If the bracelet is a highly ranked artifact, it will only work when it's used by a similarly ranked cultivator. Young Madam has zero cultivation, so she’s technically a mundane. The bracelet will only be activated when the enemy is also similar to her. If someone like my sister attacks her, it can sense it but it wouldn’t protect her since she has insufficient True Yuan to support it. Therefore, it chose to give up.”

Yang Chen was enlightened but he was dejected at the same time. He gave the artifact to Lin Ruoxi but was useless in her hands.

Lin Ruoxi felt slightly disappointed. It looked like she really had to work hard on her cultivation or she’d still be a burden to him even with a high ranked artifact.

Yang Chen was reminded of something after his confusion had been cleared up. “Granny Yan, are you leaving now? Are you here to bid us goodbye?”

Yan Sanniang nodded with a smile. “That’s right, but I wanted to talk to you before leaving.”

Lin Ruoxi was about to walk into her room when she heard this but she was stopped by Yan Sanniang.

“Young Madam, you don’t have to leave. You can listen to our conversation.”

Lin Ruoxi was confused but her curiosity made her stay.

“Granny Yan, are you trying to tell me to take good care of the old man? You don’t have to remind me, I won’t leave him alone.” Yang Chen chuckled.

Yan Sanniang shook her head and she said with a stern expression, “No, I want to talk about Hongmeng…”

“Hongmeng?”

“That’s right.” Yan Sanniang looked rather glum after mentioning it. “Young Master Chen, I’m sure you know why I escaped Hongmeng. The truth is, my father, Yan Wuchen, is one of the few Heaven ranked elders in Hongmeng. I guess you could say he’s one of the leaders. His cultivation base is unfathomable. He was in the Full Cycle of Ming Water and he should be in Ruo Water by now. My father was considered the strongest cultivator in Hongmeng because no one has heard of the Nine Heavenly Lightning for thousands of years. No one knows how much it takes to reach there…”

Yang Chen was glad to hear this. He felt more relaxed to know that there wasn’t anyone in the Nine Heavenly Lightning Tribulation Passing stage in Hongmeng.

“According to the legends, if one wishes to reach great heights and break through the void, the Yu Qing Heavenly Lightning was required. Even a cultivator in the Ruo Water level can hardly live for a thousand years. The members of Hongmeng are all looking for a way to break through such shackles by obtaining the Great Ancient scriptures in order to challenge the Nine Heavenly Lightning.”

Yang Chen’s heart sank. If what she said was true, then the Luo clan must have known that he had the scripture.

However, based on the fact that he had only encountered the Luo clan, they must have kept it hidden so that they wouldn’t have competitors.

How did they know about it?

Yan Sanniang continued on, “People from Hongmeng started to be anxious and afraid of witnessing others failing despite their effort. They entered Hongmeng because they didn’t want to disrupt the mundane world and that they wanted to break through the void. However, they came to realize something. It did not matter how much they cultivated. They would not reach immortality. Having faced so many failures, why would they still concentrate on apprehending ‘dao’? They started to become selfish. They kept thinking of ways to live longer or how to reach a higher realm and cultivation bases. They kept fighting for a chance to obtain a scripture that will help them to break through the Nine Heavenly Lightning.”

She took a breath and continued, “As for the mundane world, they didn’t really care about it anymore, nor did they care about the people of China. This situation has been going on for thousands of years and it has been getting more intense in the past centuries. If it wasn’t for the Huang ranked people who had just entered Hongmeng, there wouldn’t have been any messengers left.”

“This was why General Lin Zhiguo of the Yellow Flame Iron Brigade didn’t believe in the existence of Hongmeng messengers. Hongmeng has been corrupted by the selfishness of its members. They want to gain immortality so no one would care about the mundane world. As for the elders like my father, they were apathetic about this. They think that the people of China are just insects created by God and that death is their fate.”

“Hmph,” Yang Chen sneered. “I bet it's all just a bunch of excuses. They want to pass the buck to each other so that they can focus on cultivation instead. No wonder they are so shameless. It turns out there isn’t a reputation left for them to maintain anymore.”

“But…” Yang Chen furrowed his brows. “Why are you telling me all these?”

Yan Sanniang smiled through pursed lips. “Young Master Chen, I’m telling you these because I feel like you’re the only one who’s capable of changing everything!”

“Change everything?” Yang Chen was even more puzzled.

“That’s right,” Yan Sanniang said in an earnest manner. “I’m hoping that you can clean up Hongmeng one day. Get rid of those apathetic people, those selfish ones who are hoarding the resources in Hongmeng! I won’t plead on my father’s behalf if he refuses to repent.”

Yang Chen froze. “Granny Yan...that’s too much to ask of me. You don’t have to sound so stern. I would love to but I don’t possess the skill or authority.”

Lin Ruoxi was worried too. She wouldn’t want her man to risk his own life for the world. Humans were always selfish at times like this.

“The current you might not be able to challenge Hongmeng but Hongmeng is obviously your enemy now. Are you going to sit back and let them kill you?”

“Of course not!” Yang Chen said. “I’m planning to cultivate seriously from now on. I might not improve immediately but at the very least, I won’t drift aimlessly any more.”

Yan Sanniang was pleased to hear this and she smiled. “That’s the right attitude, but it’s still insufficient. You can’t get there with just hard work. I told you all this with the intention of assisting you!”